


Nebraska

by ohrabbitheart



Category: Need for Speed (Movie 2014), The Walking Dead (TV), Zombieland (2009)
Genre: F/M, Need For Speed AU, Other, Zombie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:10:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4115089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohrabbitheart/pseuds/ohrabbitheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The truck stop scene in Need For Speed when Julia is forced to jump from the second story into Tobey's arms. But with a twist. Because there are zombies. You're welcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nebraska

Nebraska is exactly what you'd expect.  
  
Everything was generic the moment we pulled into the welcome center. "Trucker's Chapel" was still illuminated by a wire and light crucifix, the white semi-trailer covered in bloodied hand prints. The "Family Restaurant" remained welcoming regardless of a few burned out light bulbs and its blue and white striped canopy torn and fluttering lightly in the evening wind next to the Nebraska travel center. There could still be people alive. We could be lucky and not have to run for our lives.   
  
Tobey pulled the Ford around the gas pumps with precision, stopping just in front of one of the empty pumps. He barely had the car turned off before he was stepping out and walking around the back, his hand rapping quickly against the trunk to get my attention. "Hey, make it fast, we're two hours behind schedule."  
  
"Okay, I got this." I couldn't help but grin as I pulled my pathetic excuse for a suitcase behind me, grateful that he was giving me even two seconds to stretch my legs and change out of my absolutely blood drenched clothes. I could feel guts in my hair, and I smelled of rotten flesh and sweat. I mean, it's amazing what you can get used to when you have no other choice, but another second trapped in that car smelling like a pig with Tobey driving like a bat out of hell was going to nauseate me to no end.  
  
Surprisingly, with the exception of most food and drink stolen, the gas station was more or less untouched. Empty, unfortunately, but untouched. And the bathroom was a blessing in disguise. It was not lost on me that had the world been normal and I wasn't running for my life from the flesh-eating undead, I would be disgusted by the mere thought of a gas station bathroom. But this was necessary and welcome, and I could have cried real tears when I turned the nozzle on the sink and water began to flow. I stripped off my pants and blouse, using whatever pieces of fabric that were void of crimson to wet and wipe blood from my skin. Peering into my suitcase, I settled on a pair of jeans and a white graphic tee. With a glance in the mirror, I was surprised to see, I almost looked normal. Nearly completely untouched by the horrors of a zombie apocalypse. The eyes, though. They eyes always give us away.   
  
Stepping out of the bathroom and around the corner, I began to make my trek back outside with a new bounce in my step. No more than five paces, I spotted him. It. Well over six feet, clad in a state trooper uniform, the corpse shambled about. I wasn't sure where he came from or if he'd somehow managed to follow me in or if I just really was that stupid and naive, but he was there and he was close and I knew he spotted me even as I ducked into the aisle. Maybe, just maybe, he'd forget about me. Until, of course, my phone began to ring.   
  
Tobey.  
  
"Yeah. I can't talk." The whispers seemed like shouts in such a dire moment. And he warned me of the danger. He'd spotted one enter. "I know."   
  
I didn't bother ending the call, just shoved the phone into my back pocket and inched around the end of the aisle. Unsurprisingly, I came face to face with the zombified trooper. Goosebumps riddled my body as we made eye contact, and I found myself high-tailing it in the opposite direction of the exit pulling down DVD racks in my wake in a frivolous effort to slow the beast. Down a narrow corridor past the truck stop's showers and into the stairwell, he followed. At the top of the first flight, I turned and whipped my suitcase at its head. I didn't bother to stop, knowing that it wasn't much of a deterrent as my feet carried me up the next flight. My hands went for the phone in my pocket.   
  
"Tobey? He's following me."   
  
"I know. Where are you?" I could hear his gravelly voice on the other end, and I wished with every fiber of my being that I was somehow down in that car beside him and out of this hellhole as I closed and locked a random door behind me.   
  
"I'm upstairs. I'm in a room."  
  
"Alright, um, is there a window?"  
  
There was. And I walked toward it cautiously, my eyes peering through the blinds with uncertainty. "Yeah. It's... It's on the second floor." The trooper had caught up with me at this point, his muffled growls and groans echoing with each collision of his body against the door. I was certain Tobey could hear it over the phone.  
  
"Look, just climb out the widow. I'll come get you."  
  
Another glance out the window and I found myself answering with an inaudible 'okay' and a nod of my head. Leaving the call up, I locked my screen again just as a fresh round of banging sounded on the door. Backup. More had followed. I either climbed out the window or I became dinner. You'd think the choice would be obvious, but it took the cacophony of groans fifteen feet from me to get me to open the window. Once I climbed out onto the ledge, however, becoming dinner seemed like a much more favorable decision. The drop couldn't have been more than fifteen feet, but from my position it looked like a hundred. I sank to my knees, my back pressed hard against the side of the building while my eyes roamed the vast distance to the ground.  
  
Nope.  
  
Reaching for my phone again, I whispered to Tobey, "Where are you?" In answer, the Ford's engine revved and the growling behind me ceased. He'd gotten their attention. Below me, he once again came to a precision stop, sliding out of the car as if it was a part of him. My knight in shining silver armor with blue racing stripes. My hero.  
  
"Hey. You gotta jump." Apparently he had already taken in the insanely terrified look on my face.  
  
"No. I can't."  
  
"Let's go." And now he was waving his fingers toward himself, palms up. Like that was going to make it easier.  
  
"I can't. I can't jump. I'm afraid of heights."  
  
"It's not high! Come on!" There was a slight of laughter in his voice, and part of me could have killed him right then and there for more than likely thinking I was a complete nutter because I was more afraid of heights than being eaten by zombies. Of course, I was too busy having a panic attack.  
  
"No. I can't. I'm afraid of heights. Tobey, I don't know what to do." Tears. Legitimate, panic induced tears. And Tobey's face changed completely.   
  
"Trust me, alright? Just sit. Sit down. Okay, sit down."  
  
Our time was running out. The biters were getting further from me on the second floor and closer to Tobey and our escape route on the ground. I trusted him. I sat.  
  
"Just close your eyes, and count to three, alright? On three." I closed my eyes. "One..."  
  
I didn't bother to listen to another word as I pushed myself from the ledge. Two had barely left his lips along with a startled 'oh' as my free fall came to a crashing halt with the sound of his grunt. When my eyelids flashed open, I was looking at Tobey. He'd caught me bridal-style, and our eyes remained locked on one another for a beat longer than was necessary considering the urgency of our dilemma.  
  
"Superman." I mumbled. It seemed to break our trance, and he shot me that devilish crooked grin of his as he angled my feet toward the ground.   
  
"Shut up."


End file.
